State transportation officials Monday opened the 10-mile stretch of U.S. 6 west of Golden that had been closed for nearly three months following a June 21 rock slide.
Blasting at the rock face, clearing the site and repaving the damaged road bed cost $3.2 million, more than the Colorado Department of Transportation’s typical annual budget for rockfall mitigation in the entire state, CDOT spokeswoman Stacey Stegman said.
The shutdown of the road, which offers a scenic, meandering trip from Golden to the gambling towns of Black Hawk and Central City, gave CDOT and its contractors an opportunity to reshape the mountain and reduce the potential for another slide at the same site, Stegman said.
During the closure, work crews removed 40,000 cubic yards of rock, installed 60,000 square feet of wire mesh on the slope to help contain future rockfalls and paved the road with 1,000 tons of asphalt, the state said.
CDOT still must add another 10,000 square feet of mesh to the slope using a helicopter, but doing so will require only minor, temporary closures of the road for 10 to 20 minutes at a time, Stegman said.
While dangers at the site of the rock slide – just east of the road’s junction with Colorado 119 – may be reduced, there still are other areas in the corridor where the peril persists.
“We can assess sites and lessen the chances of rocks coming down,” Stegman said. “But we can’t predict when they’re going to happen, and we can’t prevent them.”
Even though CDOT removed other rocks that posed danger in Clear Creek Canyon, Stegman cautioned motorists to be vigilant for rocks on the road and the threat of slides.
She also said travelers should be aware of another threat: Wildlife has had a free run of the area.
Animals have been “spending time on the highway” during the closure, she said, and “drivers should be very cautious.”
Staff writer Jeffrey Leib can be reached at 303-820-1645 or jleib@denverpost.com.
